The use of foraminifera in the identification and analysis of marine shell middens

Three test pits were excavated at Rodds Peninsula on the central Queensland coast in an area which exhibits both cultural and natural shell deposits. In addition to the conventional criteria for distinguishing cultural shell midden from non-cultural shell deposit (especially cheniers), we analysed sediment samples from each pit to determine whether they contained the remains of foraminifera. Foraminifera are microscopic marine organisms whose calcium carbonate exoskeletons ought to occur in any deposit laid down or reworked by seawater. As an experimental element of our analysis of the deposits, this technique was successful in distinguishing samples from a chenier and from a midden each of which met the general criteria for non-cultural and cultural origin respectively, The method was then applied to a sample from a more ambiguous depositional context. This paper details our preliminary study in foraminiferal analysis, setting it in the context of previous work by Gill (1954), Gill et al. (1991) and by McNiven (1996)